McGruder Selected to Miami Heat Summer League Roster

McGruder Selected to Miami Heat Summer League Roster

MIAMI, Fla. – Former Kansas State player Rodney McGruder was recently named to the 19-man Miami HEAT Summer League roster, which will play in both the Southwest Airlines Orlando Pro Summer League (July 2-8) and the Samsung NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (July 8-18).

The HEAT begins summer league play on Saturday (July 2) in Orlando against the L.A. Clippers at 4 p.m. CT in the first of five games in the seven-day event at the Amway Center. The schedule includes matchups with the New York Knicks on Sunday, July 3 at 2 p.m. CT, the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, July 5 at noon CT, the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, July 7 at 4 p.m. CT and concludes with a championship day on Friday, July 8. Many of the games can be seen on NBATV.

The team will then head to Las Vegas the following week, where they will play a minimum of five games in a tournament-style schedule at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion, July 8-18. The first game is set for Saturday, July 9 vs. the Dallas Mavericks at 9 p.m. CT followed by matchups with the Denver Nuggets on Monday, July 11 at 7 p.m. CT and the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, July 12 at 5:30 p.m. CT. The teams will have seed play on July 13-15 followed by the quarterfinals on Saturday, July 16, semifinals on Sunday, July 17 and the championship on Monday, July 18.

ESPN and NBATV will broadcast all 67-game schedule of the Samsung NBA Summer League from Las Vegas.

McGruder will be joined on the squad by current HEAT players Josh Richardson, Briante Weber and draft pick Justise Winslow, along with notable rookies Damion Lee (Louisville), Nic Moore (SMU) and Stefan Jankovic (Hawai’i), and will be coached by HEAT assistant coach Juwan Howard.

McGruder played a starring role for the HEAT’s D-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce, which set a new D-League record for most wins in a single season (40) en route to capturing their first NBA D-League Championship on April 27. He averaged 15.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting (290-of-565), including 38.4 percent (93-of-242) from 3-point range, with 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 37.5 minutes per game in 2015-16.

An honorable mention AP All-American as a senior, McGruder led K-State to its first conference title in 36 years in 2013, leading the Wildcats in eight categories, including scoring (15.6 ppg.), double-digit scoring games (29), 20-point games (11), rebounding (5.4 rpg.), starts (35) and minutes (33.5). He is one of only two Wildcats (along with two-time All-American Bob Boozer) to rank in the Top 10 in both career scoring (1,576, seventh) and rebounding (654, seventh). He is part of the winningest senior class in school history (101), while he is one of just four Wildcats to appear in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments (Steve Henson, Jordan Henriquez and Martavious Irving).

For more information on the NBA Summer League can be found at http://www.nba.com/summerleague/.